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Road hog

Walnut Tree, Abergavenny

Abergavenny's reputation as a foodie hotspot can be traced back to the mid1960s, when Franco Taruschio, an Italian chef, opened the Walnut Tree restaurant on the B4521 just outside the town. In 2001 the Walnut Tree was taken over and its popularity began to slide. A run-in with Gordon Ramsay on his Kitchen Nightmares TV show exposed flaws and the Walnut Tree closed last year. Many thought it might not open again.

Its saviour arrived at the end of last year in the shape of Shaun Hill, a chef with 40 years' experience and until recently at the Michelin-starred Merchant House restaurant in Ludlow, Shropshire.

The Walnut Tree's whitewashed building forms part of the parish of Llanddewi Skirrid on the edge of the Brecon Beacons in Monmouthshire. The food it serves is impressive. Never a chef to follow fads and fashions, Hill cooks what he likes to eat and doesn't